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34Philosophy of biology today: No grounds for complacency (review)Philosophia 8 (4): 785-796. 1979.
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51Natural Selection in "The Origin of Species"Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 1 (4): 311. 1971.
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134Karl Popper's philosophy of biologyPhilosophy of Science 44 (4): 638-661. 1977.In recent years Sir Karl Popper has been turning his attention more and more towards philosophical problems arising from biology, particularly evolutionary biology. Popper suggests that perhaps neo-Darwinian evolutionary theory is better categorized as a metaphysical research program than as a scientific theory. In this paper it is argued that Popper can draw his conclusions only because he is abysmally ignorant of the current status of biological thought and that Popper's criticisms of biology …Read more
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37Kant's Concept of Teleology. By J. D. McFarland. Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh Press, 1970, Pp. ix, 150. £2Dialogue 13 (1): 192-195. 1974.
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70Definitions of species in biologyBritish Journal for the Philosophy of Science 20 (2): 97-119. 1969.
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177Darwin's debt to philosophy: An examination of the influence of the philosophical ideas of John F.W. Herschel and William Whewell on the development of Charles Darwin's theory of evolutionStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 6 (2): 159-181. 1975.
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126Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution: An AnalysisJournal of the History of Biology 8 (2). 1975.
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29Cultural evolutionTheory and Decision 5 (4): 413-440. 1974.In this paper I consider the problem of man's evolution - in particular the evolutionary problems raised when we consider man as a cultural animal as well as a biological one. I argue that any adequate cultural evolutionary theory must have the notion of ‘adaptation’ as a central concept, where this must be construed in a fairly literal (biological) sense, that is as something which aids its possessors (i.e. men) to survive and reproduce. I argue against theories which treat adaptation in a meta…Read more
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33Biological adaptationPhilosophy of Science 39 (4): 525-528. 1972.In successive issues of this journal Ronald Munson [2] and I [4] have made, quite independently, conflicting claims about the relationship between biological adaptation and biological function. I state, admittedly without proof, that “a functional statement in biology draws attention to the fact that what is under consideration is an adaptation or something which confers an ‘adaptive advantage’ on its possessor”. This was an identity claim. Munson claims, with proof, that “adaptation and functio…Read more
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70Are there laws in biology?Australasian Journal of Philosophy 48 (2). 1970.This Article does not have an abstract
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29A reply to Wright's analysis of functional statementsPhilosophy of Science 40 (2): 277-280. 1973.
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33Anomalies and Scientific Theories. Willard C. Humphreys (review)Philosophy of Science 38 (4): 614-616. 1971.
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18Book Review:The Young Darwin and His Cultural Circle Edward Manier (review)Philosophy of Science 46 (1): 165-. 1979.
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40Book Review:Darwinism and Human Affairs Richard D. Alexander (review)Philosophy of Science 48 (4): 627-. 1981.
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9Book Review:Towards a Theoretical Biology C. H. Waddington (review)Philosophy of Science 39 (1): 105-. 1972.
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376Darwin and His Critics: The Reception of Darwin's Theory of Evolution by the Scientific Community. David HullPhilosophy of Science 42 (3): 338-339. 1975.
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45The Genetic Basis of Evolutionary Change. R. C. LewontinPhilosophy of Science 43 (2): 302-304. 1976.
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35Abusing Science: The Case against CreationismJournal of the History of Biology 17 (1): 147-148. 1984.
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27Charles Lyell and the Philosophers of ScienceBritish Journal for the History of Science 9 (2): 121-131. 1976.Two of the most influential evaluations of Charles Lyell's geological ideas were those of the philosophers of science, John F. W. Herschel and William Whewell. In this paper I shall argue that the great difference between these evaluations—whereas Herschel was fundamentally sympathetic to Lyell's geologizing, Whewell was fundamentally opposed—is a function of the fact that Herschel was an empiricist and Whewell a rationalist. For convenience, I shall structure the discussion around the three key…Read more
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63But is It Science?: The Philosophical Question in the Creation/Evolution Controversy (edited book)Prometheus Books. 1988.Preface 9 PART I: RELIGIOUS, SCIENTIFIC, AND PHILOSOPHICAL BACKGROUND Introduction to Part I 19 1. The Bible 27 2. Natural Theology 33 William Paley 3. On the Origin of Species 38 Charles Darwin 4. Objections to Mr. Darwin’s Theory of the Origin of Species 65 Adam Sedgwick 5. The Origin of Species 73 Thomas H. Huxley 6. What Is Darwinism? 82 Charles Hodge 7. Darwinism as a Metaphysical Research Program 105 Karl Popper 8. Karl Popper’s Philosophy of Biology 116 Michael Ruse 9. Human Nature: One E…Read more
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46The philosophy of biology (edited book)Oxford University Press. 1998.Drawing on work of the past decade, this volume brings together articles from the philosophy, history, and sociology of science, and many other branches of the biological sciences. The volume delves into the latest theoretical controversies as well as burning questions of contemporary social importance. The issues considered include the nature of evolutionary theory, biology and ethics, the challenge from religion, and the social implications of biology today (in particular the Human Genome Proj…Read more
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13The Possibility of Naturalism: A Philosophical Critique of the Contemporary Human Sciences by Roy Bhaskar (review)Isis 72 493-495. 1981.
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